


You Searched For: Most Recent Addition To The Columbia University Digital Archives Project

by Chanter



Category: 18th Century CE RPF, Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Canon Compliant, Epistolary, Gen, Historical, Libraries, Miraculous New York Spoilers, Original Character(s) of Color - Freeform, Original Nonbinary Character - Freeform, POV Character of Color, Snarky Academics, Underground Railroad activity, Universities, Women Being Awesome, Worldbuilding, eagle!Gilbert du Motier Marquis de Lafayette, eagle!James Armistead Lafayette, in-universe speculation on historical events, library archives, minor character(s) of color, people of color being awesome, references to historical enslavement, research and researchers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-19
Updated: 2020-11-19
Packaged: 2021-03-09 21:26:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27622688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chanter/pseuds/Chanter
Summary: Archive's note:  This is a digitized copy of a high-quality reproduction previously used for graduate-level and doctoral research done in realtime.  It does include annotations added after the fact, but rest assured, no one has been marking up the original historical document with asterisks!  -Dr. Nelda Hinajosa-Mogilla, Senior ArchivistThe fact that Lafayette was the last to wield the eagle Miraculous before a two-century gap does not automatically mean he was the only eagle-wielder before that gap.
Relationships: Gilbert du Motier Marquis de Lafayette & Liiri (Miraculous Ladybug), James Armistead Lafayette & Gilbert du Motier Marquis de Lafayette, James Armistead Lafayette & Liiri (Miraculous Ladybug)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 13





	You Searched For: Most Recent Addition To The Columbia University Digital Archives Project

The following is a transcript of a partial letter, found when reviewing and cataloguing the collected personal correspondences of Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette. 

IMPORTANT, PLEASE READ: At least two pages of this letter are missing. Visible water damage to portions of the original manuscript suggests that the lost pages were unsalvageable upon discovery, though this has never been definitively proven. No trace of these pages has ever been found, though research is ongoing. -Dr. Tierra Davis-Osseola, Departmental Chair, Library Sciences

Archive's note: This is a digitized copy of a high-quality reproduction previously used for graduate-level and doctoral research done in realtime. It does include annotations added after the fact, but rest assured, no one has been marking up the original historical document with asterisks! -Dr. Nelda Hinajosa-Mogilla, Senior Archivist

26 June, 17?? [date partially illegible due to water damage]

My dearest General Lafayette, 

To relate the events of these intervening months in coherent manner seems, at this moment, a near impossibility in my eyes, such are the vast yet subtle alterations my life has seen within that time. May it suffice to say that, in the absence of such exhaustive detail as would tax even the most patient among us, my joys have late become multitude. 

I am well settled here in New York, among a seemingly ever-growing population of both the free and the freed. My present rooms are neither lavish nor overly large, but nevertheless meet every standard of cleanliness and repair one could hope for. The hundredfold and innocent realities of this new existence, this rare emancipation of body and spirit I have found, grow ever more distinct, and with them my gratitude for your kindness and bravery, Marquis. 

In response to certain questions posed in your letter of March [water damage smudge], specifically those pertaining to the welfare of mutual friends and companions, may I first assure you, General, that the individual with whom, to my great good fortune, I am now acquainted remains safe and well. Liiri* has made her lasting contentment known to me often these past weeks, and I am humbled by her happiness as well as gratified by her willingness to continue our association. She does however confess that your absence is a trial to her; this is entirely unsurprising, in my view, given the great friendship and respect grown between you during the struggle for independence. Were I to claim that current distances try only one of those residing under this roof, I would be forced to admit my guilt in a matter of base dishonesty to a superior officer, sir. 

Also, please be assured that our acquaintance's benevolent influence has not waned since your departure, nor has her enthusiasm for our common interest faded to the slightest degree. Liiri has made it plain to me, within the safety of our lodging, that she is, as both yourself and I, pledged most devoutly to the cause of Abolition. To this end, she and I have taken up certain tasks in addition to the paid work and military pension that sustain me. As of this writing, Railroad* passage has been secured, from as far afield as Charleston as well as stations significantly nearer New York, for eight individuals in need of northward transport, three of those with Liiri's direct and invaluable assistance. Such Miraculous* aid she grants me in these matters, my General; my awe is undiminished! 

Liiri has suggested to me the name Flight Feather, meant for use in a similar fashion as your own Liberté Vert* during the war, and I find it a more than agreeable alternate. I cannot, whatever my status, possibly be overly careful in such situations as those I willingly enter as a Conductor, with or without Liiri's invaluable efforts bolstering mine. Our comrade herself knows this as well as you or I. 

It is of particular fascination to me that, upon the use of the key 

[The next page or pages are presently unavailable to the archives.] -Dr. TDO

neither feared nor viewed with undue reverence. For this I am profoundly grateful. 

Further on the subject of transport, I regret the necessity of informing you that I have had no substantive correspondence with either Mr. William Lee* or Mr. Carpenter* in some months. The latter's passage from Mount Vernon was secured successfully, as you are aware, and I have been assured of his safe arrival at his destination, but no details of his life and well-being in that city have yet reached me. I would ask, as an additional kindness of you, dear General, that my mention of Mr. Carpenter not be made known to His Excellency; beloved to us though he may be, and despite what I believe are his honestly professed views on the wider subject of human bondage, both your and my disagreement with General Washington over various connected truths in evidence will be, I fear, evergreen. 

I trust that, according to your last letter, sir, your 

[The next page or pages are presently unavailable to the archive.] -Dr. TDO

pray good fortune, continued health, and prosperity for you and yours, General. Know that my loyalty to you is one born of both deliberation and conscience, and of simple gratitude tempered by [smudge] intent. I have not forgotten those two [text illegible due to water damage] when the shackles were finally struck off. 

I remain as ever,  
most humbly and affectionately yours, 

J. Armistead Lafayette  
New York, New York 

Archive's note: The footnotes and additions associated with this copy of the manuscript were originally handwritten on a separate common page. A full image of that scan has been included below. Press alt+Z to engage the screenreader-accessible character recognition facility. Press alt+Q to engage the magnification facility. -Dr. TDO

*This was, at first, thought to be either an error or evidence of further water damage to the document. However, the name Liiri is repeated clearly multiple times within the letter fragment, and the spelling is exact each time. Who Liiri was, and what her origins were, is a matter of historical speculation. The most prevalent theory is that she was a hired, paid servant introduced to James Armistead Lafayette by the Marquis, though a not-uncommon alternate theory holds that Liiri was a young woman placed in Armistead Lafayette's care until she either reached the age of majority or married. No child has ever been otherwise mentioned as living with Armistead Lafayette, however. -Dr. Elizabeth Black Deer, Departmental Chair, First Nations, Colonial, and African American History

*Undeniably one among several references to Underground Railroad activity throughout the letter.^ -Devonny Hill, Associate Professor, Colonial American History

^Scribbled in the space under this footnote is an unsigned, perhaps deliberately messy reply: No kidding. Good eye, though.

*This is most likely either a further religious reference or a penmanship error.^ -Scott Tancredi, Colonial American History

^The question beneath this footnote is at least initialed, though the handwriting is not Dr. Black Deer's: What makes you think that? -K

Well, what else could it be? Why else would somebody capitalize miraculous? -ST

*When the heck did anyone call Lafayette Green Liberty? I've never seen that used as a name for him anywhere before, in translation or otherwise. -Nicole Van Hoy, Colonial American History

I wish I knew what Armistead Lafayette meant about keys, and about being treated with neither fear nor reverence. Could that have had to do with his Conductor work? My instincts say yes, but in the absence of any further detail, I can't back it up and it's bothering me. -Malik Avery, African American History

People have been trying to figure that one out for years, Malik. If you want to trawl through the physical archives looking for more info, I hear there's another team of interested parties eyeing a trip to Chavaniac this summer - heads up. -Noélia St. Cyr, First Nations and Colonial American History

*Mr. William Lee, in this case, is almost certainly the Lee who served as Washington's personal assistant during the Revolutionary War. He was the only one of Washington's slaves emancipated within that man's lifetime. -Courtney Swift, Associate Professor, African American History

*Mr. Carpenter is believed to be a man named Kitt, who was trained in carpentry and who successfully escaped from slavery at Mount Vernon shortly after the Revolutionary War. Whether or not he officially adopted the surname Carpenter as a match to his professional skills, or whether this is Armistead Lafayette attempting a subtle misdirection, is unclear from historical records. Credible information does place this man as living freely in Halifax, Nova Scotia near the end of his life, however. -Dr. EBD

This makes it sound like Armistead Lafayette was at least friendly with Carpenter, and the fact that he was informed of the man's escape... is making me wonder things, specifically Railroad-related warm fuzzy things for which I have no evidence. -NSC

We're going to end up assisting on each other's research projects yet, Noélia! -MA

I don't know if the world can handle that amount of awesome. Too bad for them if they can't. :) -NSC

Seriously, is anyone else curious about the Green Liberty line, or is it just me? -NVH

**Author's Note:**

> This fic can be blamed almost entirely on two things: My being both a history nerd and complete and utter Hamiltrash, and my having only just seen the Miraculous Ladybug New York special. I suppose that's technically three things... anyway. Once I saw the special, I could not get the idea of James Armistead Lafayette as an eagle-wielder out of my head. I imagine Lafayette giving the Miraculous to Armistead Lafayette before returning to France, and (this is how I'm keeping things canon compliant) getting it back, with the full consent of everyone involved, including Liiri, during the chance meeting that happened when he later visited the States. Yes, there was a struggle going on in France, but Lafayette knew full well about the evils of slaveholding in the Americas. I'm choosing to write this version of him as both aware enough of the latter, and confident enough in himself regarding handling the former, that he handed off the Miraculous to a righteous wielder before leaving for Europe. 
> 
> Regarding the Mount Vernon references: The details about William "Billy" Lee are true. It's also true that Washington once purchased a slave named Kitt - yes, spelled like that, and it messes with my head to the point I almost included a researcher squeeing about it - who was a carpenter. I haven't found any further info about this RL man, let alone whether he escaped slavery or not, but I wanted to give him some fictional happiness and safety, at least. 
> 
> If it reads, from names, like the senior faculty and most of the researchers are probably PoC of different sorts, it's because they are. Oh, and K miiiiight just stand for Knightowl, but I'm not telling. :)


End file.
